Climbing the Mountain : 2024 Rewind pt.2

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 Then came the infamous “Jason Autrey” game, South Carolina with College Gameday in town and the eyes of the nation on them quickly jumped out to a 17-0 lead. Which was fueled by LaNorris Sellers’ electrifying 75-yard touchdown scamper, the longest by a QB in program history. Along with Kennard and Dstew constantly wrecking havoc against two 1st round offensive tackles. Looking to squeeze a last second score in before halftime ended up costing the Gamecocks big time. Lanorris trying to spin out of a sack led to his right ankle being rolled up on and sidelining him for the rest of the afternoon. We shot ourselves in the foot with some boneheaded mistakes racking up 13 penalties. Also played too conservative for much of the half not giving Ashford much of a chance to make a difference. However there were some game changing calls that were out of our control. A phantom offensive pass interference call negating a 30 yard pass play that wouldve set us up deep in LSU territory. The worst of them all was when Emmanwori had a beautiful 100 yard pick 6 ripped away by the zebra’s, and the call was so bad it had every fanbase in the country defending us (yes even Clemson). Clinging to a 2 point lead he successfully baited Nussmeier and jumped in front of Kyren Lacy taking to the house for 6. Kennard got called for an illegal blindside block even though Nussmeier was turning running towards the play. Lsu would then take the lead on that same drive and it left the stadium in complete disbelief. We had one final opportunity with just a couple seconds on the clock Alex Herrera lined up for a 49 yarder to tie the game. Wide right, game over (2-1, 1-1 in SEC play). That was all she wrote. Akron came to town the following week with Robby Ashford leading the troops as Lanorris was recovering from his ankle injury. Rocket was lost early in the first quarter after tweaking his ankle on a blocking play that sidelined him for the rest of the night, having just one carry. Ashford stepped up, slinging three touchdown passes and running for another score to keep the offense humming. The defense dominated all night holding the Zips to just 167 yards of total offense trying to get the sour taste of last week out of our mouths. Heading into the bye week at the perfect time as we needed to give our two big horses time to heal up and feel like themselves. Everything was looking up for Rocket and LaNorris, fresh off a bye, at home, with a chance to pull the upset against Gamecock enemy #1, Juice “Judas” Wells. Let’s just say things didn’t go as planned. Two special teams blunders early on led to the game feeling out of reach fast. A missed chip-shot 28-yard field goal on the opening drive would set the tone for a frustrating day at the office. On the next Gamecock drive, Shane Beamer dialed up a fake punt on a 4th and 1 from our own 36 that everyone in the stadium saw coming. Dart would take advantage of the field position, putting the Rebels up 7-0 and not looking back. As the game went on, it became evident that LaNorris and Rocket were still running on bum ankles, just not looking like themselves. The Rebels’ defensive front, led by Walter Nolen, smelled blood in the water, recording 6 sacks and if we didn’t have Superman back there, it’s probably 8 or 9. Kiffin made it a point early and often to get Juice the ball, as this was his highest-targeted game of the year. One of the lone bright spots in the game was when Judas Wells fumbled the ball through the endzone. Instead of a 75-yard touchdown and poorly executed celebration, it was a touchback for the Gamecocks. Kiffin threw his play sheet on the ground and had smoke coming out of his ears.That’s about the only thing that went right for the Gamecocks that afternoon, and it was the only game all season where they just were outmatched. Every single other ball game, they were in it to the very end with a chance to win. Ole Miss racked up 425 yards of total offense, and fans trickled out as the clock wound down on the 27-3 final score.